Urban Meyer Indiana week press conference: Ball security a focus

After a big win over Minnesota that finished a little closer than expected, Meyer and Ohio State turn this attention to Indiana.

Offensive champions were Nick Vannett, Jeff Heuerman, OL Darryl Baldwin, Barrett, Elliott. Evan Spencer was POG on offense.

Defensive champions were Josh Perry, Mike Bennett, Eli Apple, who Meyer added is his playing his best football, and Doran Grant, who Meyer will recommend for all Big Ten.

Vonn Bell and Joey Bosa were named co-defensive player of the game.

Jeff Heueman named special teams player of the week, who picked up the onside kick.

Says it's great to come home after two road games against top 25 teams. Says there is a good chance Bri'Onte Dunn will be back. Said that Marshall had a tough game but they haven't lost confidence in him. Missed Dontre.

Says that J.T. Barrett is a Heisman candidate, and since he's coached players who went to New York, he would know.

Meyer says he's having a lot of fun coaching this team, said they're working their tails off. Loves that players know they can continue to improve. Every coach wants to be around that, just has to make sure they don't change with the added attention and notoriety.

When asked if it would be hard for him to come up and play in the snow when he was at Florida, he said it would be ridiculous, just like it would be if he had take Ohio State to 100 degree heat. Declined to answer about wanting to play playoff games on home sites, saying "we play Indiana this week."

Said that J.T. Barrett's long touchdown run was a called run. Credits his ability as a scrambler, but says they're looking to limit the number of designed QB runs.

Says he hasn't studied Tevin Coleman too much yet, but says he is fast, and has an outstanding statistical profile. That will be the number one threat this week.

Meyer credits improved tackling this season to improved focus in practice.

Says Tommy Schutt had his best week of practice, and they want to get him on the field soon. Says that position group is not where they need to be right now.

After multiple turnovers, Meyer said they had a conference with coaches and players about fumbles, says they may have gotten a little lazy about that in practice.

Meyer says that Marshall is very aggressive to the ball in punt returns, and says they don't want to lose that, but continues to maintain confidence in Marshall.

Meyer is happy with the progress of Eli Apple, who has made big gains not just on the field, but in the classroom.

When asked about the committee and perception, Meyer says they don't even address it. No additional focus on style points, and says that they are a "lights out" better team than they were after week 2. Meyer declines to say if they're one of the four best teams in the country, since he hasn't watched the other teams. "We're one win from winning the Big Ten East. I know that."

Meyer said that coach Smith coached his best game against Michigan State, but said they didn't play as well against Minnesota, doesn't want to buy weather as an excuse. Overall though, Meyer says it has been a good year for the wide receivers.

Meyer declines to talk about the Florida coaching situation, again, reiterating that they're playing Indiana.

Despite giving up some yards to David Cobb, Meyer said that Mike Bennett played one of his best games as a Buckeye, and that the defense still played pretty well. He said he knows they're going to play a tough rushing attack, and they'll focus on tackling.

Meyer also adds that he hasn't seen such a strong slate of running backs in a while, as well as a group of very good run defenses. He adds that the Big Ten has some NFL players carrying the ball, and includes Ezekiel Elliot.

As far as the perception of the Big Ten is concerned, Meyer said that the teams are getting better, and that the top half of teams are good. Specifically points out Northwestern beating Notre Dame, but adds that consistency up and down the league has been a bit of an issue.

Meyer addressed Curtis Samuel's role and progression. "We have to find ways to get Samuel in the game", even though Elliot is playing outstanding. Says he was a little injured, but hasn't done anything wrong. It's more a matter of Elliot playing well.

Finally, Meyer addressed the J.T. Barrett and Braxton Miller controversy by saying "our plan is to clinch the Big Ten East". Speculation on that will have to wait another week.